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CPI alleges vote sale by BJP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala CPI secretary Veliyam Bhargavan has alleged sale of BJP votes to the UDF in the just-concluded Assembly elections.

Giving out a `preliminary' list of seven constituencies where vote sale allegedly took place, Mr. Bhargavan told a news conference here on Saturday that the voting figures pertaining to the 2001 Assembly elections, the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the just-concluded Assembly elections showed that there was a sharp erosion in BJP votes and a surprisingly commensurate increase in the UDF tally. This, he said, clearly showed that there was transfer of BJP votes to the UDF. The Congress leadership should come clean on how much money it had spent to purchase the BJP votes, he said.

The BJP had got only 7,38,224 votes this time compared to 18,22,920 votes secured by the party in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he said.